Engineering Manager, Frontier AI Infrastructure - Public Sector
About this role
Scale AI's Public Sector business is expanding as government agencies adopt machine learning to support critical national security and defense missions. The Frontier AI Infrastructure team owns the model inference layer, enabling state-of-the-art models, debugging latency, managing networking, and tracking usage metrics for AI systems.
Leadership is seeking a hands-on Engineering Manager to divide time equally between writing and reviewing code and coaching a small team of engineers. Responsibilities include setting technical direction, running sprint planning and on-call rotations, and partnering with Product and Deployed Engineering to translate mission requirements into the product roadmap. Candidates must hold an active Secret clearance and bring direct people management experience alongside a strong track record as an individual contributor in software engineering.
What you will do
- Lead, coach, and grow a team of engineers by handling hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development.
- Set technical direction and quarterly priorities for the inference layer while holding the team accountable for customer and contract commitments.
- Run the operational rhythm of the team through sprint planning, on-call rotations, incident reviews, and postmortems.
- Partner with Product, Program, and Deployed Engineering leadership to translate customer and mission requirements into a roadmap.
- Represent the team in customer engagements and vendor escalations, including interactions with government stakeholders.
- Design and implement secure, scalable backend systems for public sector customers using modern cloud-native AI infrastructure.
- Maintain hands-on involvement in the codebase by reviewing pull requests, debugging production issues, and executing technical work.
What you need
- At least 1 to 2 years of direct people management experience leading a team of software engineers, covering hiring, performance management, and career development.
- A strong track record as a hands-on individual contributor with a willingness to remain active in the code.
- An active Secret clearance with the ability and willingness to up-level to TS/SCI with CI Poly.
- Ability to support work three to four days a week from the Washington, DC office.
Nice to have
- Full Stack Development proficiency in both front-end and back-end development, including modern web frameworks, programming languages, and databases.
- Experience developing and delivering software to air-gapped and isolated environments.
- Understanding of containerization tools like Docker and orchestration platforms like Kubernetes.
- Experience with federal compliance frameworks and requirements such as Cloud SRG, FedRAMP, and STIG Benchmarks.
- Experience building or scaling a small team and establishing engineering standards for code reviews, testing, and on-call rotations.
Benefits
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
- Retirement benefits
- Learning and development stipend
- Generous PTO
- Commuter stipend
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the work location policy for this role?
Candidates must be able to support work three to four days a week from the Washington, DC office.
What is the compensation range for the position?
The base salary range for this full-time position in Washington, DC is $213,600 to $267,000 USD, with eligible roles also granted equity-based compensation subject to Board of Director approval.
What are the security clearance requirements?
Candidates must hold at least an active Secret clearance and demonstrate the ability and willingness to up-level to TS/SCI with CI Poly.
What is the time breakdown between management and coding?
This is a 50/50 role where approximately half the time is spent writing and reviewing code, and the other half is dedicated to leading, coaching, and growing a small team of engineers.
What is the policy for reapplying if previously considered?
Scale enforces a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.